Handforth Parish Council Planning & Environment Committee Zoom Meeting

Lol!

 

says shall. Is that law or usual procedure ( genuinely don't know)

 

I'm not sure about if its actually classed as law or not but it's the written rules of parish councils.

 

I think there's an interesting thing to note here that even though the chair and vice chair were apparently in the right, it is Jackie who has been invited on to radio shows, on to The Last Leg and got the support on social media. No-one seems to care what the chair and vice chair has to say, or don't want to risk inviting them on, due to them being so volatile.

 

Is it possibly, and quite ironically, female privilege? The woman has her side taken without caring for the facts.

 

I know this is sad but.

I believe Jackie Weaver is an official of the ‘Association of local councils’. These are bodies, usually split on County lines, that assist and advise Parish Councils (PCs) in their business. When and how meetings are called will be written in the Standing orders (Rules) of the PC.

It seems this meeting has been called by a couple of (un-named Parish Councillors) but is on a Zoom link that has been established by Jackie Weaver. That’s what gives her the power (probably unconstitutionally) to remove people. The control of the meeting is usually down to the Chair - though that is difficult if you don’t control the Zoom button!

The reference to the Monitoring Officer (MO) relates to an Officer (not at the meeting) who is usually the Legal-officer/Solicitor of the local council . If this were in the Barnsley area, they would be an Officer of Barnsley MBC. The MO has a very broad range of powers to intervene in the conduct of PC business if matters are reported to him/her, because they are legally responsible for that conduct.

On the basis of what I’ve seen in the video, Jackie Weaver is in trouble - she has exceeded her Authority. The Chair is a dick but is only in trouble in as much as he doesn’t seem to have the support of his fellow councillors so they may remove him. The Vice Chair is a bigger dick but is in more trouble because his behaviour is likely to have breached the Councillor’s code of Conduct. The others are okay, even if they have laughed.

Hope that’s helpful and can I apologise for knowing this stuff. This kind of PC conduct is not unusual where I live!

 

I can't see a woman automatically having her side taken if both sides were calm and rational. I also can't see the woman's side being taken if she was the one screaming and they were being calm. It's the hysterical ones who lose all respect and the one who keeps their composure comes out looking the best.

 

I'm not so sure it would have panned out the same way if Jackie was male.

 

I don't see why not. The chair and especially the vice chair seem quick to anger and very aggressive and I doubt they would have been calm when speaking to anyone. I could certainly imagine them shouting like that to a younger male. Although now I've said that, I can see how it shows less respect for her being female in that I'm not as confident they would have shouted like that at a male of her age.

 

The vice chair is an odious, arrogant, aggressive little toad. Here's the follow up meeting where he's obtained a barrister's opinion(!) which he reads out and then asserts privilege despite having just waived it by reading it out. He then threatens the rest with non-molestation orders (lol) if they ask questions.

 

I'm not watching 34 minutes! Can you give me a time stamp that's worth watching from/to?

 

Bloody Hell MT. I got out my best Anorak to comment on this thread but I didn’t know Columbo was a member of the BBS,

 

00:02 to 33:58

 

I thought it was brilliant , it reminded me of the Vicar of Dibley & you can imagine the kind of script they would have produced in this time of lockdown , hilarious

 

For a video described as "Best of...", it makes me wonder what the worst bits are like.

 

Some responses below in capitals. Not shouting.

QUOTE="Farnham_Red, post: 2653845, member: 6663"]I’ve done some more background reading on this than it deserves. As far as I can tell the following
1 The chairman of the committee refused to call a meeting. The previous meeting called again by other councillors he had been disruptive
2 This meeting was again called by 2 other councillors perfectly legally despite the claims to the contrary by the Chairman. CORRECT
3 due to problems last meeting Jackie Weever was invited to act as clerk by other committe members to give support. THEY DON’T HAVE THE POWER/AUTHORITY TO ASK HER TO ACT AS CLERK.
4 she is chief officer of all the Cheshire councils so it’s appropriate to ask her to attend if there are issues. NOT QUITE. THAT WOULD BE A VERY POWERFUL ROLE AND DOESN’T EXIST. SHE HEADS THE CHESHIRE ASSOCIATION OF LOCAL COUNCILS. SOUNDS GRAND AND IMPORTANT BUT IN REALITY IS MADE UP OF ‘ONE WOMEN AND HER DOG’ AND ONLY ADVICES PARISH COUNCILS (not the ones that matter- flippancy on my part there!)
5 the chairman refused to admit the meeting was valid. Showed no intention of actually leading the meeting and became aggressive and disruptive. WE’RE INTO OPINION NOW AND THAT’S WHERE IT BECOMES DIFFICULT.
6 Mrs Weaver removed him to a waiting room. SHE IS LIKELY TO HAVE EXCEEDED HER POWER HERE. 7.The remaining councillors had a discussion and elected a temporary new chairman.
8. The new chairman with support of the committe confirmed the decision to remove him

Now as the original chairman seemed to have a sole purpose of disrupting the meeting and prevent it dealing with the issues on the agenda I am not sure what other action was open to the committee or Mrs Weaver other than canning the meeting. BACK TO OPINION BUT THE CRITICAL POINT IS, IT’S NOT HER CALL.

as far as I can tell the all the problems were caused by original chair and Mrs Weaver acted in the most appropriate way.
What should she have done differently?[/QUOTE]. SHE COULD HAVE READ THE STANDING ORDERS OF THE PC AND FOLLOWED THEM.

 

Doesn't seem very democratic to allow one person to stop meetings from happening though? What should they have done @Dalestyke?

 

I think if you press play it should be at the relevant bit. I got linked it, I've not watched it all! If not it's 17 mins in

 

if they know the Chair won’t call a meeting, or intends to disrupt it, they inform the Monitoring Officer of the relevant Council. He/she intervenes, and sets out (for all Councillors) how they will proceed.

in addition, if anyone (Councillor or member of the public) believes any of the Councillors have behaved badly or wrongly or breached the Member code of Conduct, or their own Standing Orders, they report that to the MO and an investigation takes place. If that investigation shows good grounds for the complaint, then a hearing is held.

The British can be criticised for many things Helen, but a lack of procedures isn’t one of them